Catch Her if You Can: Caitlin McDermott
By Natasha Payés
Caitlin’s two loosely braided pig-tails sway from left to right as she whips around the track, one foot crossing over the other. She attacks the curve and relaxes on the straight-away, attacks the curve and relaxes on the straight; her black and lime green roller skates make a soothing zzzzzzzzzz sound. After an hour of ramming her body into others, breaking through packs of aggressive skaters, and completing timed intervals, Caitlin peels off her high waist black and white polka-dot mini skirt and strips down to her red paisley-print boy shorts and black tights. She takes a sip of water and gets back on the track.
That was just the warm-up.
Playing on the Quabbin Missile Crisis and Western Mass Destruction roller derby teams of the Pioneer Valley is just one of the activities she discovered since graduating from Mount Holyoke in 2010. She is known as Rocky Raccoon #594—that’s police code for malicious mischief. As for the Rocky Raccoon, it is the title of her favorite Beatles song which highlights persistence and tenacity—two characteristics that are a must for such a high-impact sport. Roller derby is more than just women in risqué, DIY costumes on skates. This is a sport that defies notions of femininity, encourages men’s participation, and is becoming increasingly popular and widely respected.
“Roller derby has been a wonderful community to get involved in, both locally and nationally,” said Caitlin. “It’s such an eclectic group of people; there are nurses, single mothers, computer programmers, college students, construction workers, doctors. We’re interested in this national grassroots sport and we all have something to bring to the table.”
Finding such a community that resembles anything like MoHome is cumbersome, but somehow Caitlin has managed to find her niche right in her own backyard.
Caitlin is an Easthamptonite through and through. She attended the Williston School as a day student and though Mount Holyoke is only minutes away, she did not discover the college until the application season.
At her mother’s suggestion Caitlin applied—begrudgingly—to both Mount Holyoke and Smith, but was convinced that she would never go to an all-women’s college. Caitlin was admitted to both colleges, but automatically said no to Smith as it was too close to home. And despite Mount Holyoke being dead last on her college list; she attended Experience MHC, the College’s admitted student weekend.
She didn’t want to.
She didn’t want to like MHC.
God forbid she would admit to her mother that she was right all along!
But Caitlin could not deny her feelings, nor could she lie and say she had a horrible overnight experience. She played Apples to Apples with her host for goodness sakes!
The following day, Caitlin submitted her deposit.
Over the course of four years, Caitlin joined a handful of student organizations such as the Mount Holyoke News as the health and science editor; track and field as a thrower; and stage crew. Oh stage crew…so many hours spent setting up and dissembling sets, staying up until the wee hours of the morning with Lauren Darby as they waited for A/C Day and Variasians rehearsals, Las Vegas Night, UnDressage, a capella jams, Thursday Night Live performances, Noche Latina, China Night, [you fill in the blank] to end.
“It was a shared pain experience,” she joked, “But I loved it.”
Following graduation, Caitlin traveled to Australia and worked as a research assistant at the Australian National University with Professor Jochen Zeil, a renowned vision scientific researcher. While there she worked on two projects that consisted of tracking bull ants and studying escape responses in fiddler crabs.
Once the year was up, Caitlin made her way back to the U.S. and worked as an early childhood music teacher in Los Angeles and then as an administrative assistant at the Office of Student Programs at Mount Holyoke.
So what’s next for our fellow Pegasus?
Starting August, Caitlin will teach science at the Peddie School, a private boarding school located in Hightstown, NJ. Although she does not like to admit it, Caitlin is following her mother’s footsteps by becoming a teacher. She plans to pursue a Master of Education degree in a few years. Though she is slated to have a hectic schedule this academic year, Rocky Raccoon #594 is definitely ready for the challenge!